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GameplayCrazy fast! Requires incredible precision. Never gets old. A lot of variety as far as game modes.

AudioWould have loved to see the original voice actors come back for characters like Wolverine but, never the less, still some good voice work here. Deadpool is hilarious, as always. Also, great remixed tunes as well as new stuff.

Art and AnimationGorgeous looking art style. Capcom never slacks on the art. Effects and animations are wild and over the top without being goofy. A decade... a freakin' decade! No wait...! It's actually been longer! Did we really have to wait this long for Marvel vs Capcom 3 to finally become a reality?! I mean, I know it takes Capcom forever to come out with actual sequels, but c'mon! I guess I should be grateful that it's here now but that would all depend on the outcome of this title. Let's venture through a little deeper, shall we.

Ok, so it doesn't play like Marvel vs Capcom 2 but don't get your boxers in a knot just yet. A lot of guys are saying that it plays very similar to Tatsunoko vs Capcom which is totally untrue. It's not even the same game engine as Tatsunoko. Let's focus on the button layout first. The button layout has been changed from four attack buttons and two helper buttons to the new layout of three attack buttons, two helper buttons and a launcher button. To the outside observer, it would seem that Capcom has simplified the button layout and even Capcom themselves admits to it being simplified but, in actuality, it's not simple, it's just different. MVC2 had six regular punch/kick attacks crammed into only four buttons. That means that the light punch attack had to share a button with the medium punch attack; same thing goes for the kick buttons. It was a switch (an annoying switch) from MVC1 but we got used to it. MVC3 goes completely different from any previous Capcom fighter and does away with different buttons for punch and kick. Now you only have three “attack” buttons; one for weak, one for medium and one for hard. Also, rather than each character having a specific launch attack, all characters launch their opponents the same with the launch button. The launch button itself also serves as another heavy attack button. Honestly, I like it. I dare say I like it a lot. The reason why is that I never liked the fact that one button shared weak and medium attacks in MVC2. Sure I would rather see three punch buttons and three kick buttons like previous Capcom fighters but, honestly, if it came to that it would become way too complex. Anymore buttons than what we got now and the Marvel vs Capcom 3 control scheme can be classified as a PC keyboard. So in short, thank God for no more button sharing.

Mission mode is a favorite of mine. It is a mode that is very similar to the Trails mode in Street Fighter 4. Mission Mode has you attempt to execute a series of 10 challenges for each character in the game. The challenges range from doing a simple Special maneuver to pulling off an incredibly complex combo. This gives players a booster shot on how to play the game and also gives you hints on various tricks of the trade.

Now let's talk about the characters. There is a much better balance of characters this time around as far as gameplay, strength, speed and priority is concerned. There is a decent amount of balance to every single character. It's not uncommon to see guys using every character in the game. Yeah, I know; that seems like kind of a stupid statement but the reason why I say that is basically because in previous Marvel / Capcom games there were characters that were absolutely useless. We'll talk about that later.

MVC3 has a great balance of characters whose speeds and priorities are a complete variety. Not everyone is a rush-in-and-do-a-crazy-fast-combo character. Characters like Dormamu and Thor need to be played much differently than say X23 or Wolverine. Another stark contrast is the simplicity versus the complexity of some characters. Spencer turns out to be a very straightforward character while Dante has a series of specials that can almost always link into each other. They both got about the same speed (Dante is probably a little faster) but the effects, complexities and power behind their moves are completely different.

Sentinel is way too strong. Capcom had to lower his health already with a game patch to make things fair again. Plus his hit-absorb armor is now up to 3! It now takes 3 hits to interrupt Sentinel's attacks when he is in the middle of executing his attacks whereas in MVC2 it only took 2 hits to stop him. Phoenix is also way too strong when she becomes Dark Phoenix. People online are already spamming the crap out of Sentinel and Phoenix.

I wouldn't say that Marvel vs Capcom 3 is broken but I would say “Thank God for online patches” because guys are already constantly finding infinite combos that need to be stifled with patches. That won't stop either! By comparison, Marvel vs Capcom 2 was incredibly broken! For example, characters like Sentinel completely dominated while characters like Servbot were only in the game as a joke; which is a shame because it's like wasting an entire character slot in the game. To be honest, Servbot could have been a really good character in Marvel vs Capcom 3 if Capcom really tried. It would have been nice to see them make amends for making him so useless in MVC2.

Lastly about the characters, I don't understand why Capcom and Marvel decided on such obscure Marvel characters. The Capcom roster is great, mind you. It's awesome to be able to use Hagar, Arthur, the Bionic Commando and Amaterasu in a fighting game. However, so many beloved Marvel characters have been left out to make room for Marvel characters that fans could have done without. For example, why do we need Hulk and She-Hulk in the same game? Sure they play completely differently but if you really wanted to put a strong girl in the game, why not bring back Rogue? Also, the fact that Gambit has been replaced by M.O.D.O.K. raises the anger of many fans. Probably the most unforgivable exclusion in Marvel vs Capcom 3 is the lack of Juggernaut. Now that's just wrong.

Online multiplayer does lag just a bit, which normally would not be a problem, but because of the speed of the game and the fact that more buttons are being pressed per second in this kind of game than in any other kind of game, it's important to have absolutely no lag to make for an untainted experience. You absolutely can't tolerate lag in the fastest paced game genre ever; but at the same time, asking for no lag in a title that exchanges so much information every second, non-stop is asking quite a lot. My advice; get off your freakin' duff and go over to your friend's house! For crying out loud, this game was never meant to be played alone anyways. All fighting games, in general, were birthed through the spirit of competition that can only be thoroughly enjoyed by either sitting with your friends in front of a TV or at an arcade.

I know it seems like I might be a little too harsh on this title but that's only because I hold Capcom to a very high standard that they themselves have set. At the end of the day, Marvel vs Capcom 3 satisfies and satisfies greatly, for that matter. Remember that Sara Lee jingle a while back? “Nobody does it like Sara Lee.”? That was Sara Lee's way of saying that no one does cakes and pastries like them. Well that same jingle is relevant right now for Capcom in the sense that nobody does fighting games like Capcom. Honestly... Capcom is keeping this genre alive. And what's more, they are allowing it to thrive. Case in point, you would never think that the fighting game genre was ever in any trouble with how much quality Capcom brings to the table in Marvel vs Capcom 3. Happy beatings!

Peter Rizkalla is a life-long enthusiast of videogames and the videogame industry. He has worked in various videogame companies such as THQ, Namco/Bandai and 2K Games and avidly attends many game conferences and events. His formal reviews can be seen in AnimationWorld Magazine. "Press Start" is Peter's new blog on AWN, filled with his insights and views on the latest in gaming. He can be reached at PRizkalla@gmail.com.